Community | February 03, 2009 | 36 comments

Pagan cult mosaic found under a cathedral

source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28995380/

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AwesomeJosh
A Roman mosaic floor filled with scenes depicting pagan rites and oriental gods has emerged from the ground of a Catholic church in Italy, archaeologists announced.

The mosaic pavement, which measures 140 square feet and dates to the fourth century A.D., was unearthed at a depth of about 13 feet below the the ground's surface during archaeological investigations in the crypt of the Cathedral of Reggio Emilia, in central-northern Italy.

"The size and design of the mosaic pavement suggest that it formed the floor of a huge room. We believe this was the residence of a wealthy Roman," Renata Curina, the archaeologist in charge of the dig, told Discovery News.

The fact that depictions of pagan gods had lain for hundreds of years just a few meters under the cathedral doesn't come too much as a surprise, according to the archaeologist.

"The church was built on top of preexisting building structures. This is rather normal in Reggio Emilia. We can see that little care was taken of the mosaic floor, since pillars are built on top of it," Curina said.

Made up of small tesserae — tiny tiles — of different materials, which include colored stones, glass cameos and golden leaves, the intricate mosaic floor features geometric designs of circles and squares with little figures of dancers, flowers and birds such as magpies and peacocks.

What makes the mosaic unique, however, are three large mythological scenes.

"So far all scenes show naked figures. We are still trying to figure out their meaning. I believe that more clues might come to light as we continue to dig," Curina said.

The scenes are rather unusual. One shows a naked man falling into someone's arms, another displays two naked figures — a man and a woman — wearing jewels. The woman holds a just caught fish, while the man holds two live ducks.

Another extraordinary scene shows a naked man wearing an ivy crown and holding a lotus flower in his right hand.

In his left hand, the mysterious character holds a lituus. This is a crooked cane which in ancient Rome was used by the augurs as a cult instrument. The cane was regarded as a symbol of a priestly group.

The augurs were religious officials who observed natural signs, such as the flight of birds, in order to interpret them as indications of divine approval or disapproval.

"Symbols such as the lotus flower and the ivy crown might hint that this was a private room dedicated to the cult of oriental gods," Curina said.

According to Luigi Malnati, superintendent of archaeological heritage in Emilia Romagna, such pagan scenes must have been pieced together before 380 A.D., the year when the emperor Theodosius proclaimed Christianity the state religion. Indeed, a series of decrees in 391-392 A.D. banned and punished pagan cult practices within the empire.

"This is one of the most important and interesting mosaics in northern Italy. It stands out for its size, design and refined technique," Malnati said.

Roger Ling, a professor of classical art and archaeology at the University of Manchester, U.K., and the author of "Ancient Mosaics," agreed. "It's a sensational discovery," Ling told Doscovery News.

Once fully detached and restored, the mosaic will be put on display at a local museum...
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36 comments // Pagan cult mosaic found under a cathedral

  • eskimoe
  • remanns
    • 0
      remanns  

    • Saints Alive! " chatholics ARE pegans! they just painted over the old gods and made up new nones (saints)"---dariusvons

      Here comes the new cult,.........same as the old cult,....

    • 2 years ago
  • nyingma13
    • 0
      nyingma13  

    • Just as many of the churches built by the early Catholic Church were constructed on and from the temples of the so-called pagan gods that preceded them, so too were many of the stories and symbologies of the early church borrowed and built upon those who were in existance at the time. Both to bury the religions that existed before, and to get the people to worship at the Christian altars and fill the Christian coffers, Constantine and then Theodosius took over the ancient gods and spirits, thinly disguising them as saints of the new church. It's all the same old bullshit, man!

    • 3 years ago
  • jahkee3
    • 0
      jahkee3  

    • wow! these archaeological finds makes it even more clear that the pagans even at that time they were aware of the potential of our Cosmic Serpent DNA.

    • 3 years ago
  • ozoneocean
    • 0
      ozoneocean  

    • Pagan is just an old emotive word for "non-Christian" with no religious meaning. This sounds like an amazing architectural archaeological discovery! The people that had the older religion there were the same people to embrace the new one. They had their religious site in the same place. That's how these things work everywhere and always have: cultures evolve as time goes by.

    • 3 years ago
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  

    • This happens all the time. When the Roman Catholic Church was established, for the most part they didn't bother to tear down the old temples. They just refurnished or built over them. It's interesting to visit one of them and walk down the layers and watch the religious beliefs get older and older.

      It was an old practice done mostly out of practicality by conquerors. Like the Mosque at Cordoba or the Hagia Sophia, religious buildings are usually just refurnished rather than torn down.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Power and glory by pillaging, plundering and persecuting anyone who dared to stand up to them? Pagans like all religions were those who killed for their gods as willingly as any other religion has.They left many rivers of innocent blood in the wake of their Empire to secure their "glory."

    • 3 years ago
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • JanforGore:

      No they didn't, pagans for the most part did not kill in the name of their "religion."

      For the most part, most pagan religions are a collection of superstitions and old cultural beliefs cobbled together to form myths about the outside world.

      Romans were pantheists, they weren't really interested in what religion you practiced as long as you subscribed to the cult of the emperor or didn't do human sacrifice.

      Christians were persecuted largely out of misunderstanding, no one at the time really even knew what they believed. All anyone knew is that they refused to take the oath of the emperor for religious reasons, which was a big no no.

      They were given plenty of chances to take the oath and they refused because they believed, rightly so, that it would violate their religion.

      Just some real history, for anyone who's interested.

    • 3 years ago
  • JasonCovich
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • JanforGore:

      I say that like I've studied it.

      Because I uh, have.

      How arrogant of me to share my education, I'll make sure to respect the opinions of people who haven't studied the subject at all from now on.

    • 3 years ago
  • Eleganza
    • 0
      Eleganza  

    • Hmmmmm...interesting if you consider the power and glory of Rome for almost a thousand years by worshiping Pagan gods and now the punch line of a joke that Italy has become in terms of power and influence after adopting Christianity as the official religion...and before any of you go totally off on me about my view of modern Italy.... my mother is Italian.

    • 3 years ago
  • Nettle
  • Hoax_Productions
  • naty_forty
  • shroomfairy
  • JasonCovich
    • 0
      JasonCovich  

    • Nice. It shows that every generation and era has to overcome oppression. Maybe we can be the first society to get rid of these superstitious retards all together!

    • 3 years ago
  • pressrecord
  • eden49
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Historically Christians were viciously tortured and persecuted and their sacred artifacts destroyed by Pagans as well. It wasn't until Constantine that Christianity gained more of a foothold in the Roman Empire when he abolished the worship of idols and sacrifices after his "conversion." This is one of many artifacts below where the Roman Empire once stood, including cities with passageways, roman bathhouses, and other artifacts still intact. It really is fascinating.

    • 3 years ago
  • pressrecord
    • 0
      pressrecord  
    • JanforGore:

      in fact, it was the romanization of christianity that made it the vicious imperial organization that it is. basically, romans (pagans) parading as christians, converts by rule and compulsion, not divine revelation.

      "converted" because constantine never rebuked his own idol worship all the way to his death. his mother was a christian for sure though. scary, though, how he used the cross to scare his opponents in battle very much like how the nazis distorted the swastika to do the same. yes, fun stuff!

    • 3 years ago
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • JanforGore:

      And vice versa. There are many famous stories of the "desert fathers" attacking pagan relics, priests or murdering platonic philosophers and scientists.

      Plus, Constantine was HARDLY a good Christian. In fact, in many was I think Constantine's story has some parallels to revelation and the anti-Christ. Well, him and like every other influential military commander.

      First off, he never abolished Paganism or idol worship. That didn't come until 80 years later. He just made Christianity the official religion of the empire.

      Plus, the persecution of the Christians really wasn't unique. It was more of a misunderstanding than a hatred. Most people, emperors included, had no idea who Christians were or what they believed. All they knew is that they didn't participate in the cult of the emperor, which was punishable by death.

      Read the "Passion of St. Perpetua," it'll give you a decent idea of how Romans and Christians thought of the situation.

    • 3 years ago
  • jh64487
    • 0
      jh64487  

    • you should see the interesting blend of south american religions and catholicism in Peru and Bolivia (and other countries I'm sure but that's where i've been).

    • 3 years ago
  • nursediesel
    • 0
      nursediesel  

    • Archaeology is so amazing. To know people spent so much time collecting, sellecting and separating the miniture stone tiles; laid out the drawings and the scrolling and edgework and mixing the adhesive and spent how much time getting it just right with hand made tools. Amazing.

    • 3 years ago
  • rjupiter
    • 0
      rjupiter  

    • nothing new and really has nothing to do with religion. this happens whenever a group, religious or political, conquers and area. building are torn down and new ones put in it place. interesting and a nice find but not a revelation or anything.

    • 3 years ago
  • dariusvons
  • jh64487
  • creeldog
  • aswift1
    • 0
      aswift1  

    • Cool post. I hope that more of these pagan artforms are discovered and made public. People should know that some symbols mean more than they think.

    • 3 years ago
  • pressrecord
    • 0
      pressrecord  
    • Image

    • i think it's generally well known that judeo-christians destroy pagan relics and some held sacred structures only to build churches on top wherever they invaded. this was part of the catalyst in church burnings in Norway by extremist Black Metal renegades who protested Judeo-Christian culture by burning the churches they believed had been built on top of sacred temples/structures of their pagan past.

    • 3 years ago
  • sgwhites
  • Mobius2012
    • 0
      Mobius2012  

    • take a look beneath vatican city, you'll find thousands of pagan relics, as well stolen treasures. You don't even have to look under Vatican City, just take a walk in the inner courtyard, you'll find Egyptian Ibis's, coffins, and plenty of Pagan symbols for a field day of kindergarten kids to check out :)

    • 3 years ago
  • aswift1
  • rxqueen420
  • mesencephalon
  • RCS
  • remanns
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